The National Student Clearinghouse® Research Center™regularly publishes research that supports education, workforce, and learner success. Our research offers objective data and insights about student enrollment, mobility, completion, and other important student outcomes that are visible only through the Clearinghouse data. Our nationwide network of nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions provides up-to-date student-level data that represents 97 percent of the postsecondary enrollment today. Our publications are to benefit and better inform the education community, policymakers, business leaders, and other community leaders.
COVID-19
Stay Informed with the Latest Enrollment Information
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Regular Updates on Higher Education Enrollment
March 11, 2021
COVID-19
Transfer, Mobility, and Progress
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s Update on Transfer Students
April 12, 2021
Publication Series
High School Benchmarks
This updated COVID-19 Special Analysis now shows a more complete fall enrollment picture for the 2020 high school graduates. The disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on disadvantaged students remain largely the same as originally reported in December.
Last Published December 10, 2020
COVID-19 Special Analysis Updated March 25, 2021
7%
Decline in students going to college immediately after high school from a year ago, an unprecedented one-year decline
Yearly Success & Progress Rates
Year-by-year rates of persistence, transfer, completion, and stop-out can help states and institutions better identify effective intervention points to increase student success.
Last Published February 9, 2021
30%
Part-time beginning students no longer enrolled anywhere two years later, up 5 percentage points from a year ago
Undergraduate Degree Earners
Early impacts of the pandemic revealed by undergraduate credential earners during the 2019-20 academic year.
Last Published January 28, 2021
26,000
Decline in first-time college graduates from a year ago
Current Term Enrollment Estimates
Latest enrollment estimates for the current term for the nation and by state, reported for different institution types, student groups, and major fields.
Last Published December 17, 2020
State Data Expanded March 12, 2021
560,000
Decline in undergraduate enrollment from a year ago
Completing College
Provides a comprehensive overview of postsecondary completion trends nationally and by state. For all students who enter postsecondary education for the first time each year, it examines the diverse pathways the student traversed toward completion, as well as a degree or certificate completion rate within six and eight years of enrolling.
Last Published December 3, 2020
60%
The national 6-year college completion rate, counting all students at all institutions
Tracking Transfer
Latest six-year baccalaureate degree completion rate for transfer students from two- to four-year institutions is reported for the 2013 cohort of first-time degree-seeking students, analyzed by student SES and institutional characteristics.
Last Published September 29, 2020
14%
Community college beginners earning a BA in six years, an increase of 1 percentage point over last year
Persistence & Retention
The report is designed to help institutions understand first-year college persistence and retention patterns and identify disparities between different students, institutions, or states in this important early success indicator.
Last Published August 13, 2020
76%
First-time college students who persisted at any U.S. institution in their first year of college
Some College, No Degree
This report offers insights about students’ subsequent enrollments and completions, based on the most current national data that tracks individual students over time and across institutions and across state lines since the first Some College, No Degree report was released in 2014.
Last Published October 30, 2019
3.8M
Some College, No Degree students who re-enrolled in the past five years. Nearly 1 million completed.
Upcoming Publications
APRIL 2021
COVID-19 Stay Informed with the Latest Enrollment Information (Spring 2021 #2)
JUNE 2021
COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility, and Progress #4 (Final Look Spring 2021)
JUNE 2021
Spring 2021 Current Term Enrollment Estimates
Current Initiatives
Postsecondary Data Partnership
The Postsecondary Data Partnership is a nationwide initiative to help colleges and universities more efficiently gain a fuller picture of student progress and outcomes, meet various reporting requirements, and focus more of their resources on using data to help students.
Have suggestions for new analyses related to our publications?
Share your ideas here.
Subscribe to get the latest from the Research Center